by Ram Maxey
AFTER 19 Philippine Army Special Forces members were murdered and a number of their comrades wounded a couple of weeks back in Al-Barka, Basilan in an ambush by elements of the Moro Islamic Libertion Front (MILF), there were strident calls from horrified citizens of this republic for the government to launch an all out war against the MILF.
The MILF leadership has claimed that the government soldiers attacked the MILF camp in what the secessionist group described as its “area of temporary stay” (ATS). Which was a brazen lie, of course. The government troops were there to arrest or capture a renegade MILF member who was among those who was involved in the beheading of 14 Philippine Marines in another ambush-months earlier.
President Aquino right away rejected the calls for all out war and replaced it with his own call for “all out justice”—whatever that means. No sooner had he made his call than the military launched an air and ground assault a rebel stronghold in Zamboanga Sibugay and occupied the camp where bloodstains and fifteen freshly dug graves were mute testimony to what the lawless elements had suffered.
The Philippine Army called the attack a victory, albeit a hollow one because it will not end nor solve the four-decade problem of the Moro secessionist movement. It merely underscored the government’s penchant for launching “all out war against” anything it considers as standing in the way of the endless search for a Utopian republic.
Hence, the launching from time to time of “all out war” against corruption, poverty, drug trafficking, all sorts of criminality, environmental degradation, illegal logging, illegal fishing, human trafficking, prostitution, illegal gambling, tax evasion, smuggling, pollution, illiteracy, abortion, women and child abuse, traffic violations, SARS, dengue, malaria, sexually transmitted diseases, smoking in public conveyances, sidewalk vendors, illegal possession of firearms and improvised explosive devices (IED), you name it, this country has it! Yeah, this country is famous for its all out wars that it never wins.
Going back to Al-Barka and Zamboanga Sibugay and all those other rebel enclaves, past and present, populated by heavily armed and trigger-happy elements, I thought all along that this country is under one flag, sings one national anthem, has one national government. But the way things have been going, I’m having second thoughts. I’m confused. So are many of my countrymen. And our President’s ill-advised and ill-timed pronouncements are adding to that confusion. And our Supreme Court is not of much help either with its flip-flopping ways.
God help this republic which refuses to help itself.
